When I came across the following review of The Lamplighter from Erica Bauermeister’s 500 Great Books by Women, I knew I had to include this ebook on the site. The Lamplighter may be downloaded for free from our ebook catalog. Second only in sales to Uncle Tom’s Cabin during the nineteenth century, The Lamplighter is … Continue reading →.

As I like to post two ebooks at a time to the site, and having decided on Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, I came across a gem of a book called Our Nig by another woman named Harriet, Harriet E. Wilson. Both are about slavery and both are written by … Continue reading →.

We wrap up Banned Books Week with two free ebook offerings: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Black Beauty. At first I thought these two books had nothing to do with one another, but after further research I see a common themes of cruelty, compassion, and propaganda through storytelling. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe was … Continue reading →.

Edna Pontellier, the heroine of The Awakening, shocked readers in 1899 and the scandal created by the book haunted Kate Chopin for the rest of her life. The Awakening begins at a crisis point in twenty-eight year-old Edna Pontellier’s life. Continue reading →.

An endearing quality about Wiggins’ writing is the wonderful detail with which she describes even the most minor of events. She is also very clever at describing the social milieu of the day, so clever that one would come to believe that she might be commenting on social realities such as class divisions. Continue reading →.

Although Kate Douglas Wiggin is famous for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, she can deal with some remarkably dark subjects for an obvious optimist. The Romance of a Christmas Card is in the end a story of strange coincidences that ultimately lead to redemption. Continue reading →.